Log-loader.



UNITED STATES PATENT Cruce.

CHARLES E. EVANS, OF PADUCAH, KENTUCKY.

LOG-LOADER.

sPEcIFIcATroN'fmg part of Letters Patent No. F)243531, dated April 7,190s.

I Application tiled August 2, 1902.

T all whom t may concern:

'Be it known that I, CHARLES E. EVANS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Paducah, in the county of McCracken and State of Kentucky,have invented a new and useful Log-Loader, of which the following is aspecication. Y.

The invention relates to improvements in log-loaders.

The object of the present invention is to improve the construction ofdevices forloading logs on sawmill-carriages and to provide a simple,inexpensive, and efficient device designed to be arranged at the end ofa log chute or skid and adapted to be readily operated to roll a logVfrom the skid to a sawmill-carriage.

A further object of this invention is to provide a log-loader of thischaracter in which the log-en gagin g devices will readily pass beneatha log when they are moved backward and which will be capable ofautomatically engaging a log when they are moved forward against thesame.

The invention consists in the construction and novel combination andarrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claim hereto appended.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of alog-loader constructed in accordance with this invention.- Fig. 2 is a`transverse sectional view. Fig. 3 is a detail view illustrating thearrangement of the frictional gearing for operating'the logloader.

Like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in all thegures of the drawings.

1 1 designate sides of a frame designed to receive the logs preparatoryto loading the same on a sawmill-carriage and forming a part of a logskid o'r chute and provided with longitudinal openings 2' for therecepfv tion of log-engaging devices 3, ,which operate in the openings 2and which are adapted to" move a log longitudinally of the skid to carrythe same to a sawmill-carriage 4. The sides 1 may be constructed in anysuitable manner` and are preferably mounted on a iioor or platform 5,and the log-engaging devices,

Serial No. 118,120- (Nolmodel.)

I which extend entirely through the openings 2, are ymounted on thefront ends of bars 6, which are adapted to be reciprocatedlongitudinally of the skid or chute by the means hereinafter described.

Each log-engaging device consists of an upright bar or standard composedof upper and lower sections or members '7 and 8, hinged together at 9 atthe front edges of the sections or members and' normally held inalinement, with the upper section or member vertical, by a spring 10.The spring lO is arranged at the front of the log-engaging device and ispreferably secured at its lower end to,

the lower section or member, and its upper end is free and bears againstthe front'edge of the upper section or member and is adapted to be swungloutward by the same. When the upper section or member of thelog-engaging device is subjected to pressure from the fr ont, asillustrated in lfull lines in Fig. 1 of the drawings, the upper sectionor member is held rigidly against the lower section or member by. suchpressure or resistance, as the said upper section or member cannotswingrearward from a vertical position; but when the log-engaging device iscarried backward by the means hereinafter described it is adapted toh'ave its upper section swung backward, as illustrated in dotted linesin Fig. 1 of the drawings, to enable it to pass beneath a log. When,however, the log-engaging device passes backward beyond the log, thespring will automatically throw the upper section into a verticalposition for engaging the back of the log. The upper end 11 of the uppersection or member of the logengaging device is bifurcated and haspivotallymounted within it an antifriction-wheel 12, arranged to engagethe log and adapted to rotate as the log is rolled forward, therebyreducing the friction resulting from theen- `gag'ement of the device andthe log to a minimum and facilitating the forward-movement of the log. I

The bar 6 is provided with a pair of upwardly-extending'arms 13,arranged near its ends, and these arms extend upward into the opening ofthe adjacent side 1 and are provided with antifriction-wheels 14,located at opposite sides of the arms and arranged withroo in grooves orways 15 of the walls of the opening 2. By this construction the bars 6are suspended from the sides 1 and are adapted to move freelylongitudinally thereof. Each bar Gis provided at its lower face with arack 16, meshing with a pinion 17 of a shaft 18, journaled in suitablebearings 19 and extending transversely of the skid and provided at oneend with a bevel friction-wheel 20. The friction-wheel 2O is arrangedbetween a pair of oppositely-disposed bevel friction-wheels 2l and 22,suitably connected together and keyed or otherwise slidably connectedwith a shaft 23. The friction-wheels 21 and 22 are adapted to beoperated by a shifting-lever 24, whereby either of them may be carriedinto engagement with the friction-wheel 2O to rotate the shaft 18 in thedesired direction. The shaft is adapted to be rotated for moving thelog-engaging devices forwardly to carry a log onto the sawmill-carriage,and the .rotation of the shaft may be quickly changed to move thelog-engaging devices backward for engaging another log.

It will be seen that the log-engaging devices are adapted to be readilymoved backward and forward and that when they are moved backward theyare adapted to pass readily beneath a log and that when they arereversed and moved forward they will engage a log and carry the sameforward over the sides of the frame onto a sawmill-carriage.

A log-loader comprising a. frame having sides provided with longitudinalopenings, said sides being also provided in the walls of the openingswith longitudinal grooves, 1ongitudinal rack-bars located beneath theframe and provided with arms extending upward in the said openings andhaving oppositelydisposed antifriction devices operating in the saidgrooves, said arms forming hangers for suspending the rack-bars from theframe, standards mounted on the rack-bars at the front ends thereof andextending upward therefrom through thc openings of the sides of theframe and composed of upper and lower sections hinged together at thefront and provided at the hinge-joint wit-h shoulders, leafspringsengaging the sections for holding the same normallyin an uprightposition, and reversible gearing for operating the rackbars,substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto axed mysignature in the presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES E. EVANS.

Witnesses:

RoB'r. A. CUMMINs, S. W. ARNOLD.

